


Publick Ocurrences

by ead13



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Journal Entries, Newspaper Articles, Piper POV, Piper as a companion, getting the scoop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-01-25 18:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18580426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ead13/pseuds/ead13
Summary: A series of newspaper articles written by Piper Wright as she chronicles the deeds of everyone's favorite vault dweller, as well as her personal observations of events.





	1. The New Sheriff in Town

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to keep things fresh and play as a different sole survivor. Piper and I always got along, so I thought this would be an interesting take on well-worn events.
> 
> I apologize, as I know there is another story with a very similar name, but seeing as I am framing these as actual articles for the newspaper of said name, it seemed fitting. If this offends, leave a comment and I will try to come up with a different title.

What happens when the person (or synth) a city relies upon for help is the one that needs help? 

It’s probably safe to say that most of us assumed we would not be seeing our exemplary detective, Nick Valentine, again after he went off into the heart of Triggerman territory and disappeared for two weeks while on a missing persons case. No more cases solved. No more need to light the neon sign, or the familiar hum of it in the narrow alley where he ran his agency. Ellie Perkins out of a job, and a space for rent. The end of an era.

Instead, a stranger blows into town with a machine gun he can heft with ease, a deadly serious look, and a case that needs solving. He wouldn’t be the first with those particular characteristics to march through our gates, but he quickly proved he was not the average scavver. When Ramón Ortega found out the man he needed was ‘out of office’, he would not be deterred. Instead, he got the names and locations from Ellie, convinced me to play the role of guide, and set out to rescue Nick Valentine himself.

I quickly learned that Ramón was a man of few words. He kept his motivations close to his chest, only revealing his desire to find a missing person of his own. Locals had pointed him towards Valentine for assistance, and he wasn’t looking back. It also didn’t take long to learn that Ramón was a soldier’s soldier as we breached Park Street station. Instead of opening fire with the minigun that made him an icon, he chose to rush the Triggermen with little more than a tire iron and his own raw strength (he informed me afterwards that he wished to conserve his ammo). Throw in a few fragmentation grenades and, well, you get the bloody picture. I can honestly say my few modest shots did little compared to the carnage he wrought.

Make no mistake, Ramón is not a blood-thirsty savage, the likes of which we are accustomed to seeing out in the wasteland. When I offered to show him a few simple tricks with a bobby pin, he proved a quick study and a willing student. After busting Nick out of the vault occupied by none other than the infamous Skinny Malone, he managed to convince the mobster to break up with his girl, the very one Nick had been searching for, and give his old nemesis a ten-second head-start. No final showdown even though he had his mini-gun at the ready in case things went south. Perhaps most telling, Ramón never once brought up compensation for his efforts.

Luckily, the day we lose our private eye was not this day. What happens when the helper disappears? I’m happy to say, a new one comes along.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Piper’s Personal Notes:

I honestly wasn’t sure what to make of him when he showed up outside the Diamond City gate yesterday. I was in the middle of a heated argument with Mayor McDonough (a typical day, I suppose), but he kept out of it. The man had his own motivations and didn’t particularly care about other people’s problems. To be fair, he was trying to find someone who was kidnapped. I’d definitely cut him some slack for that. McDonough sure didn’t. He had to see the irritation flicker through this stranger’s eyes even though his face remained stoic after he asked for the name of someone who could help and that pompous ass refused to answer, declaring he was too busy to assist. Again, no shocker there. They never do anything about kidnappings, and yet our mayor can put on a jovial face when the person in front of him lost someone? Even when that person is carrying a giant gun? I swear, one of these days someone is going to snap…

So did I think he would actually take me up on my offer to interview him for a new article? Honestly, no. He didn’t seem like the type to humor my request, especially not when he was on a mission. Color me surprised, he stopped by later that night as I was wrapping up my latest project. Told me he had time to kill before calling it a night. I wasn’t going to waste this opportunity, and was immediately rewarded when I discovered he was not only a vault dweller, but one who had lived BEFORE THE GREAT WAR. Cryogenics were the theme of his vault, apparently. So many things I would love to ask, but I doubted he would have the patience for too many questions. Another time, perhaps. I kept it to what he was searching for, and it took a lot of pressing before he finally revealed that the missing person was none other than his infant son. I’ll admit, it’s hard for me to imagine such a serious guy as a father, but I won’t question it. He is definitely set on revenge, and I would not want to get between him and the one who kidnapped his kid.

As thanks for his time, I offered to play the guide. He was fresh out of the vault, only two days in the wasteland he informed me, and he was trying to locate Nick Valentine. He said ‘yes’, and the rest is a story I’m finishing up for the newspaper. There’s certainly more to him than meets the eye. Besides, anyone who commands the loyalty of a dog can’t be that bad of a person! I have a hunch that if I stick with him for a while, convince him I’m useful to him until he gets his bearings, I’ll be able to get a lot more interesting stories. We’ll see how it plays out.


	2. The Wall, Dressed to the Nines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heavily influenced by that one entry on Piper's terminal...

Never let it be said that Piper Wright does not listen to feedback. The last time I wrote about that supermutant attack on Diamond City which left several security officers dead in the line of duty, I neglected to properly praise the real hero: The Wall. Our staunch defender will receive its due glory this time around.

If you haven’t recently taken a stroll along the outfield, you might not have noticed the bright, blemish-free coat of green paint adorning The Wall. It looks so good you’d almost forget it survived the Great War, striking quite the contrast against a clear blue sky. This was actually an unforeseen cosmetic tune-up; when speaking to Abbot, I found out that he had been cut off from his only source of green paint until recently. The dredges of his last can were becoming watery and hardly homogenous after the time that had gone by, but he was resigned to simply make do. Deep down, though, he knew The Wall deserved better.

Enter a mysterious benefactor. Abbot, seeing an opportunity, generously put up a large sum of caps for a retrieval mission, which this individual agreed to carry out. After only a few hours, he returned from the nest of raiders at Hardware Town with not one, but two cans of freshly mixed paint. The groundskeeper declared it perfect as the first stroke was applied, and I would agree.

Never mind the fact that our benefactor broke up a dangerous ring of raiders that were pulling a scam on unsuspecting travelers to lure them to their deaths. Never mind that the bodies of their victims were given a proper burial instead of rotting in the basement. Never mind that the items the benefactor lifted from the warehouse have hit the markets of Diamond City, filling several citizens’ needs and boosting our economy. We need to focus on what really matters, after all: I can’t remember a time our beloved Wall has looked better. Be sure to stop by sometime and thank Abbot for his work.

 

Special public notice:

Sheng Kowalski single-handedly runs the town’s water filtration system, giving us a steady source of clean water. However, Sheng Kowalski’s filter can only handle so much. Imagine my surprise when metal buckets, toasters, and anti-freeze bottles were fished out of his reservoir. Come on, Diamond City, this blatant pollution harms all of us! If you really don’t want your old typewriter, sell it off for scrap instead of just dumping it into our water supply! Sheng is responsible for providing a safe, healthy product, but we all need to treat the reservoir with respect.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Piper’s Personal Notes:

Blue…I mean, Ramón (he’s made it very clear he finds those blue vault suits tacky to the highest degree and refuses to wear his, so he’s not fond of the nickname either)… I feel so sorry for him even though plenty of bad things happen to people around here all the time. After we slept in coming off of a late night, he began the investigation for his son. Good ol’ Nick came up with a suspect after hearing his description, but neither could break into the house where Kellogg lived. He was convinced that if he explained the situation to the mayor, they would let him in without hesitation. Poor guy has no idea how unsympathetic those people are. I of course didn’t go with him, seeing as I would only cause him trouble if I showed up there, but when he came back down the lift, he looked positively downcast. Geneva told him to talk to the mayor, that she wouldn’t do it without his permission. The mayor, being the louse he is, told him that would be a “violation of citizen privacy”. Privacy my ass. A kidnapping investigation doesn’t warrant an exception?

I helped talk him through our options: one of us could get very good at lock-picking in the next couple of weeks, we could somehow steal the key from the mayor, or we could grease the secretary’s palms with a couple hundred caps. Ramón knew right away the last option was the only possible option, and I could see it pained him to resort to bribery. Guy just wants his kid back, but this obstacle isn’t one he can just punch in the face and it kills him. Seeing as this was only his third day in the Commonwealth, he wasn’t exactly rolling in caps either. Time was of the essence.

Before he got too depressed, I suggesting we talk to Abbot; I knew he had a pet project only someone like Ramón could handle. He could have driven a harder bargain, desperate for the money he needed to get that key, but he accepted the offer on the table without question. It is admittedly strange to find an honor-bound guy here in the Commonwealth, and I appreciate it. I think it reminds me of Dad, though I can only hope it doesn’t get him killed like it did Dad. At least this time, I didn’t need to worry as he beat those monsters at Hardware Town to a pulp. He ended up just a little bit short on caps, so I took him to Sheng’s to wrap up the day. Lucky guy got to go diving for junk in the reservoir. Even though it is gross to think about, I have to say the look on his face when he fished out a human skull was priceless! Freaking Sheng Kowalski needs to take better care of that water. Hopefully he fixes things up after seeing that public notice I’m putting in the next issue of the paper…

With all his earnings from today’s good deeds, he’ll be able to pick up that key tomorrow, I’m sure of it. It had better work out, because I do not like seeing him helpless; that felt all kinds of wrong after the way he exploded onto the scene.


	3. Cheers! Something to Toast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confidence Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some slight variance in the quest, namely that Vadim isn't pushing the SS into helping. It just worked better for the narrative.

Of all the tales Vadim Bobrov has told his customers at the Dugout Inn over the years, the one he’s most likely telling now would be by far the tallest. It would also be the story most grounded in reality, believe it or not. No doubt he will elaborate (this is Vadim we are talking about), but this reporter is here to set the record straight on what happened the evening of October 27th.

Perhaps a few of you here in the city saw the rough-and-tumble gang that hauled Vadim out of town, but the story actually starts with a bar fight between unassuming Travis Miles of Diamond City Radio fame and a few hecklers. Throw in the Vault Dweller, a powerfully-built man who has no tolerance for bullies, and the punches were flying, much to the amusement of the patrons. In the end, Travis and friend were the ones left standing. What they didn’t realize as they celebrated their victory was that the louts who got their clocks cleaned would be back. They’d demand money. Vadim would refuse them. Next thing poor Yefrim knew, they were dragging his brother away at gunpoint.

I don’t think even Vadim would pretend that he was able to escape on his own. He was taken all the way to Beantown Brewery, sneaking caps and chems when his captors weren’t looking like the opportunist he is, but still very much unable to slip free. Rather, the scene was set for a dramatic rescue. It didn’t take long for the players to assemble.

The assault team was led by none other than Ramón Ortega, a seasoned fighter fresh off his masterful performance in the barroom brawl. I played the part of the navigator once again, though I promise you several of my bullets bit into raider flesh once we stormed the building. Guarding the flanks was a man no one would ever guess: Travis Miles himself. That’s right folks, imagine our humble DJ packing firepower in the name of friendship! It was a sight to behold. Between the three of us, we cleaned out the brewery in record time.

Vadim was escorted back to Diamond City while gushing over Travis’s performance the entire way and probably hasn’t stopped talking since. Witnessing the camaraderie between the two of them, and seeing how far Travis was willing to go on behalf of Vadim, was the greatest reward from this caper. A close second was the case of Gwinette Lager we picked up on our way out the door... I can promise you I’ll be cracking one open tonight in honor of this good deed. May you raise a bottle to honor friendship as well, and if you do so in the Dugout Inn, be sure to share with me how Vadim’s version of the story goes!

 

Public notice: Be sure to tune in to Diamond City Radio. You may be surprised by the DJ…

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Piper’s Personal Observations:

My hunch proved correct: Geneva was no saint. Ramón was able to essentially buy the key off of her, and he wasted no time getting on with his investigation. Once he got us inside, we discovered the merc had a secret room, but no evidence of where he took off to. I could see the frustration creeping across Ramón’s features again. Strange, it’s the only emotion I’ve ever really seen on his face… It makes me wonder if instead of breaking violently when his life went to pieces, he snapped quietly, unable to emote like he used to. Maybe he was always that way, but I find it hard to imagine considering he had a wife and child.

Oh yeah, the wife. I hadn’t known about that until he was describing the details of the kidnapping to Nick. His wife had been holding their child when she was shot and the baby taken from her. His face may not have given much away, but I could tell from the tone of his voice that she meant a lot to him, that he was actually grieving her loss. Nick didn’t push him for many details about her, and of course I wouldn’t either, but I still wonder what she was like.

Anyhow, Nick suggested he go back to Sanctuary and find Dogmeat, who could possibly pick up the scent. It was getting too late to head out, so instead I offered to show him around the city. Turns out he and Arturo can talk weapons like a completely different language. Even worked on upgrading an innocent pool cue to a bladed instrument of death. The science center, on the other hand, was not at all in his wheelhouse. Poor guy probably would have gotten showed up by the kids over at the schoolhouse when it came to quiz time. All the same, he doggedly agreed to find a bloatfly gland for Doctor Duff. I caught it, the way his eyes shifted uncomfortably. He knows academics aren’t his forte, and he wants to prove himself even if it means hunting down a giant bug, which has nothing to do with actual knowledge. Well, perhaps I can help with that. Ramón hasn’t exactly been around radiation-influenced creatures, and seeing as I help Nat with all her homework, I could probably explain a thing or two.

We ended up at the Dugout for a drink. I don’t know why, but I let slip how much I appreciated having someone right wrongs, and it escalated into the story of what happened to Dad. He didn’t make me feel stupid, though. He told me that what I did was helping people. Before it could get too far, well, that’s when he saw Travis getting pushed around. Before I could head over there and tell those goons to back down, he was already crossing the room to come to the poor kid’s defense. The rest, well, that ended up in my latest article. Fact is, he is focused on finding his son, but he still took time to encourage Travis and rescue Vadim. He might not get as much sleep as he ought to as he headed back to Sanctuary separate from us, but I know he’s tough. I just wonder if we’ll cross paths again. I mean, not just because I’ve gotten three good stories in three days’ time, but…well, who knows. I guess I don’t.


	4. The Enemy of my Enemy is my...Friend?

I was reminded of this old adage upon being granted access to the Cambridge Police Station. Some of you may have picked up a radio signal requesting assistance from this outpost in your recent travels, but for those of you who did not, a small contingent of Brotherhood of Steel soldiers were pinned inside by ferals until help arrived to drive them back. Why did a few isolated soldiers far from their home in the Capital Wasteland inspire that line then? Well, all one has to do is listen to their rhetoric. They’ll spit it at you right after the mandatory introductions, though honestly they hardly even do that much.

Perhaps they only spoke so candidly due to my escort being the very man who aided them in breaking the siege (they certainly didn’t speak to me directly), but their leader held nothing back. Technology has caused a great many evils, nearly destroyed the world. Mankind took it too far. I can’t argue with that. Few of us could. All one has to do is look around and compare what we’ve got to the old magazines we still scrounge up from 200 years ago. The problem is that the Brotherhood sees itself as the only fit custodian of technology. Instead of monitoring its use and helping integrate it back into our lives responsibly, they don’t think you or I should be allowed access to it. So, do they destroy old technology they dig up? Of course not. They horde it for themselves, because apparently, unlike us, they are fit to use it. Now, I’m no scholar, but I know enough about history to know where such an ideology leads.

Knowing all that, I can’t quite call them an enemy for one reason: they may be the one hope the Commonwealth has of finding and destroying the Institute. Anyone with a pulse knows the Institute is public enemy number one, and if an organization swoops in, questionable beliefs be damned, and rids us of our boogeyman… They may be at the very least an acquaintance if not friend. To be frank, no one else has the manpower or advanced technology to stand a chance.

None of these hypotheticals would matter if they were the only troops in the Commonwealth. However, the squad recently broke into ArcJet and acquired a transmitter to boost their radio signal. They feel they have picked up on a troubling radio frequency that their leadership needs to investigate, and with the transmitter in their possession, they may very well summon an entire fleet to join them in our neck of the Wasteland. If that day comes, and my guess is that it will come soon, we will all have to decide for ourselves how we will relate to the Brotherhood of Steel.

Just don’t say I didn’t give you fair warning.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Piper’s Personal Notes:

Lo and behold, after one day of recovery from my stint of various escapades, Ramón Ortega shows up at my door. After inviting him in and breaking open a box of Sugar Bombs, he informs me that his hunt with Dogmeat led him to a heavily fortified old military hospital near Fort Hagen. He may be desperate, but he’s no fool; he won’t be heading inside to face that professional killer until he gets a suit of power armor. Problem with that is the fact that he drained most of the fusion core he found the first time he used the suit. He was insistent on getting another one so he’d be sure to have enough power.

Before I could even offer any suggestions, he proposed an idea to me: join a mission with the Brotherhood of Steel. The name meant little, though I’d heard it muttered from traders who’d listened to their emergency broadcast. Then, he surprised me by saying he wanted to take me with so I could get the scoop for the people of Diamond City on these new guys to the Commonwealth. Honestly, he’s so veiled, I had no idea he was really taking in a lot of what I’d said about questing for the truth and all, but boy was I flattered to know he was thinking about me! I sure hope I didn’t blush too badly.

In the end, our mission was productive but also frustrating. I got the truth I needed thanks to the ins Ramón had with the Brotherhood, but in typical fashion, it wasn’t a very appealing truth. I don’t doubt those guys mean well, but their logic is a tad distressing. Even more distressing is the fact that Ramón seems to be strongly aligning with them. He admitted that a large part of it was his military background; in an unfamiliar time and place, fitting into a strict organization kept him grounded. I think he also recognizes that they can offer him the tools he needs to carry out his personal mission. It came as a surprise to him when I voiced my displeasure at his offer to join officially, one of few times I saw his expression flash with some emotion. He doesn’t see that they’ll use him, or that they are riding a fine line between justified and hypocrites. For crying out loud, I’m going to have to keep an eye on him! His eyes are too busy looking ahead to wherever his son is.

At least we got him his fusion core while at ArcJet. Then, he left me a second time, for real this time. I’m kind of worried about how things will go down at Fort Hagen; Ramón may be a soldier, but Kellogg is the most feared hired gun in the Commonwealth. I’d better finish that article on the Brotherhood before I overthink this whole thing too much. I really do owe Ramón for this inside scoop. It's been a while since I've written such an important, investigative article. Maybe it's because I got tired of all the people complaining about negativity. Maybe it's because I got tired of the assassination attempts. No, this sort of thing is why I'm doing what I'm doing, and at least one person believes in my cause.


	5. The Murderer Next Door

We all know that house in the Western Stands, previously occupied by the bald, scar-faced drifter that never said a word to anyone. We all know he left a few weeks ago with his trusty pistol and a duffel bag and hasn’t been seen since. What we didn’t know was that he wasn’t merely a mercenary on par with Hawthorne or Edward, but rather an assassin that took jobs involving the straight-up murder of innocents and the kidnapping of children. 

Now, you’re probably thinking to yourselves “Piper, you can’t just say things like that without evidence!”. Let’s start with the fact that this man was recognized by the one who watched him kill his defenseless wife as she held onto their baby. I dare say you don’t forget a face like that, especially not in a moment of trauma. To further incriminate him, the witness tracked him down with his loyal canine companion and confronted him in a highly fortified military base, where he flippantly admitted to delivering the baby to his employer once the deed was done.

It doesn’t end there, not by a long shot. Brace yourselves, Diamond City, because here comes our biggest nightmare: the employer was none other than the Institute itself.

No one will want to believe it, and I half expect to find an angry mob outside my door accusing me of libel, but that is the honest to God truth. Want proof? Check the items of technology, the likes of which we haven’t seen anywhere in the Commonwealth, which were recovered from the scene of the confrontation, or perhaps the unique laser pistols only carried by synth agents. The less squeamish of you might even marvel at the pieces of technology EMBEDDED in the man we called neighbor, augmenting his abilities and sealing his ties to them. 

Thankfully, he is no longer a threat thanks to a full round of machine-gun fire and a few hate-fueled whacks of a sharpened machete. Still, I for one won’t be resting easy at night. They tell us all the time that we are being paranoid, that there is no threat here in Diamond City, but we’ve just outed a huge one living within our very walls. It begs the question of who else might be trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

Mine turn towards the mayor’s office, where the victim seeking justice, working alongside trusted detective Nick Valentine, was repeatedly refused access to the house despite it being on the grounds of a murder/kidnapping investigation. They can talk about protecting our “privacy” all they want, but what about protecting us overall? Was there something damning inside that they didn’t want us to see? Thank God the dog only needed the scent so the search could begin. Makes him far more useful than our excuse of a mayor.

Public Notice: And in other news, how about that giant airship? Called it.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Piper’s Personal Notes:

Thank God Ramón survived his encounter. He didn’t want me to go with him, saying it would be too dangerous, but it was hard to wait. I was told his power armor took quite a beating, and he might be a bit sore for a day or two, but he still felt too much anger to feel any other kind of pain. I can see it in the way he’s holding himself, and even more, I can hear it in his words. The once numb man is suddenly throwing bitter, sarcastic comments, many times undeserved ones at Nick. I’d jump in, but Nick has always been pretty good with equally sharp comebacks. He managed to convince Ramón that our only option is to somehow bring part of Kellogg’s brain to Dr. Armari over in Goodneighbor. Okay, maybe he’s right to be skeptical about that…

It is hard to be mad at him for acting in such a mean way. He did everything possible to get to the man who ruined his family, all in record time, believing that if he didn’t delay, he could get his son back unscathed. Not only was his son not there, but he is with the organization no one can track down or get into. It must be overwhelming. It must feel more than a little impossible. I sure hope Nick’s hare-brained plan actually works, pun very much intended! The only silver lining is that Ramón had taken a strange gadget out of Kellogg’s head as proof of his ties to the Institute. Maybe it’s what they need to get the job done.

I begged him to go with him. Part of me knows that once I write the story I’ve already got spinning around in my head, I’ll have to get out of town until things cool off. I am NOT holding back on this one. The other part of me wants to make sure he cools off. When I really think about it, I may be the one familiar thing he has in the entire Commonwealth besides Dogmeat. He hasn’t exactly stopped to make friends…

In the end I didn’t have to work too hard to persuade him. He must see it the same way I do. We’ll leave for Goodneighbor, with me playing the guide as I always do, as soon as he fixes up his power armor and reinforces the new metal pieces he found in the fort. Before heading east, though, he wants to return to the Cambridge Police Station to investigate what that Paladin Danse has been radioing about. I am eager, yet I dread going; can anybody arriving in a massive airship really come in peace like they claim? He must have seen my hesitant reaction, because he chose that moment to present me with a holotape recorder he found in Kellogg’s lair. To do interviews with, record them for posterity, he said. It was like a completely different person was speaking than the one who reported to Nick. I admit, I am curious about it. When I finish this article, I’ll reward myself by playing around with it.

Maybe I can use it to catch the Brotherhood showing their true colors…


End file.
